Key takeaways:
- 100 P.E.I. farmers lobbied the government Friday in a virtual conference.
- P.E.I. farmers will have to eradicate many of the potatoes that were fated for U.S. markets this fall and winter.
A committee was created to tackle the PEI potato export problem:
Almost 100 potato growers from across Prince Edward Island met almost Friday with the Island’s four members of Parliament to confer the ongoing potato wart problem and what federal politicians can do to get the U.S. border restarted to new potatoes.
It has been almost six weeks since the Canadian Food Inspection Agency gave the trade prohibition in response to American problems around the discovery of potato wart in two Island fields, concluding all exports of P.E.I. potatoes to the U.S., a move that has been charged by P.E.I.’s premier and farmers also.
“We’ve got to get this moving and critical, like the sense of speed that came through loud and clear from the growers,” stated John Visser, chair of the P.E.I. Potato Board. Source – cbc.ca
Also read: Storm surge alert counted as winter storm slams P.E.I.
“That’s necessary, and I think they’re getting that, and hopefully they’ll bring that to Ottawa.” Growers stand to fail $120 million or more due to the border shutdown. Source – cbc.ca
Friday evening in a registered release, the federal minister of agriculture declared a recent committee — the federal ministerial coordinating committee on P.E.I. potatoes — which pledges to improve “coordination and collaboration across the federal government to answer to concerns and find solutions.” Source – cbc.ca
“The committee will be an essential forum to exchange information and further develop strategies to address the issue, while minimizing effects of potato wart on the P.E.I. potato sector,” the release stated. Source – cbc.ca
